Teicher:Prodded by Andy Reid, Chiefs QB Alex Smith learning to be more aggressive

Prodded by Andy Reid, Chiefs QB Alex Smith learning to be more aggressive
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
One of the qualities the Chiefs like in new quarterback Alex Smith is his recent history with few turnovers. Smith threw just 10 interceptions in his last 25 games for the San Francisco 49ers, a stat that looks extremely pretty in Kansas City after Chiefs quarterbacks committed 27 turnovers last season.

Smith’s low turnover rate was due at least in part by his reluctance to throw the ball down the field. He was referred to by frustrated 49ers fans as Captain Checkdown for his habit of throwing shorter patterns to receivers for shorter gains.

Smith is in the process of being reprogrammed by Andy Reid, his new coach. Reid doesn’t want to turn Smith into a turnover machine but wants him to be more aggressive, particularly during offseason practice.

“You want to get a feel for the offense now, particularly when you’re new at it (and) if there are close throws, challenge it, see what you can get away with,” Reid said. “If it ends up being an interception, OK, it’s an interception. You learn from it. These are smart guys so they learn from it and once they get into the season, they’re not experimenting with it on game day and they know what they can get away with and know what they can’t.

“It’s a new offense. I would tell any quarterback that comes in new that that’s what you need to do. I’ve told them all that. Go ahead and take your shots and see what you can get away with, within reason. But if it’s a close throw, there are going to be a few of those in the National Football League on game day so you need to know what you can get away with on each route.”

Smith and the other Chiefs quarterbacks were rewarded with several long completions in Wednesday’s practice. Smith had three such plays, including two to Jon Baldwin, while Tyler Bray and Ricky Stanzi had one apiece.

Wednesday’s barrage of big passing plays isn’t necessarily an indication the deep ball is back in the Chiefs’ offense. But since such plays have been scarce for the Chiefs in each of the past two seasons, they’re taking it as an encouraging sign.

“We’re just kind of continuing to press to see what we can do … finding out what we’re capable of,” Smith said. “You’ve got to find that out at some point. This is what the practice field is for.”

Smith was the NFL’s highest-rated passer last season before he was injured, missed a start and then replaced by Colin Kaepernick as San Francisco’s starting quarterback. Smith was completing more than 70 percent of his passes, a high rate, and had just five interceptions.

Still, he had just 30 touchdown passes in his final 25 starts for the 49ers. While that’s a good number as a ratio with his 10 interceptions, it still represents a shortage of big plays.

Smith won’t turn into a mad bomber overnight, if he ever does.

“You want to stay aggressive,” Smith said. “But in the end I’m always trying to make the right read and throw where the defense is telling me to throw. You don’t come out here and predetermine anything, like ‘Oh, I’m going to chuck it deep on this play.’ I’m constantly trying to just trust my eyes and what I’m seeing out there, trust my reads and what I’ve prepared for and then come out here and throw good balls.”

For his part, Reid might be OK with that. But for now, when an interception costs the Chiefs nothing, he would prefer Smith be more of a gambler.

“Everybody is all on board (with Smith),” Reid said. “He’s a good football player. He’s showing that (along with) good leadership. I’m asking him to do a ton of things. He’s handling it. We’ve had an interception here or there but that’s all part of this thing. You’ve got to find out about the offense and you can’t do it with your hands in your pocket. You’ve got to go out and try things and experiment. That’s what he’s doing now.

“It’s just good stuff. He’s staying aggressive with the ball, and I appreciate that.”

The final offseason practice is today. The Chiefs won’t get together again as a group until training camp begins in July at Missouri Western State University.

Smith indicated he may try to throw to some Chiefs receivers during their downtime in an effort to stay sharp.

“We’re heads and shoulder above where we were a couple of months ago,” he said. “But that’s a never-ending thing. I don’t think it’s something like, ‘We’ve got a good feel for each other so we don’t need to work anymore.’ You’re constantly working at it. This is our job, this is our craft. Every single day, it’s coming out here and pushing to get better.”

Is that just throwing touchdowns, or the 49ers' overall redzone percentage? If it's the former, that's extremely misleading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac-NinersChiefs

I generally despise dishonesty. I feel Jim promised and owed it to Alex to give him the 2012 season. To let him finish what he started... even if that meant saying g'bye to Alex the following year for his handpicked, young QB. It was a surprise to most people (outside of the few Alex hating talking heads) when Kaepernick came in and never looked back. Most analysts and fans thought it was a huge gamble... and it was. I believe Alex was ranked as the 3rd best in NFL passer rating at the time of the concussion.

To Kaep's credit, he did a great job of stepping in. I get that he has amazing potential. I actually am "over" it now, and I like where everything's at right about now. But there's no way I will ever see the decision as anything other than a betrayal.. a real dick move by a HC that would slit his own mother's throat to get what he wants. Maybe that is a mentality that fans should want out of their HC. Winning is all that matters in the end, right? Still... it was a dick move... and I would expect most of the players to see Jim in a different light now. (not that that matters much, when it comes down to it)

You FEEL Harbaugh promised that to Smith? How do you feel such a thing?

What Alex Smith and all players are owed is unambiguous and easily quantified. They are owned what is in their contract, and nothing
more.

A coach's #1 priority above anything else is what is best for the team. It certainly isn't a millionaire player's feelings.

I hated the trade for Smith and the fact that we didn't draft a QB in this draft.

I firmly believe there are at least 3 QBs from this draft with a much higher ceiling than Alex Smith has reached, and don't believe that Smith is ever going to be anything more than the somewhat mediocre game manager that he has been over the last couple of seasons.

He is far better and clearly far more effective than Matt Cassel.

But far better and far more effective still doesn't equal good.

But the reality is that this team will be better than it has been because Smith is an upgrade.

But I don't give up premium draft picks for a QB that I believe has no shot to ever take this team to a SB.

I hated the trade for Smith and the fact that we didn't draft a QB in this draft.

I firmly believe there are at least 3 QBs from this draft with a much higher ceiling than Alex Smith has reached, and don't believe that Smith is ever going to be anything more than the somewhat mediocre game manager that he has been over the last couple of seasons.

He is far better and clearly far more effective than Matt Cassel.

But far better and far more effective still doesn't equal good.

But the reality is that this team will be better than it has been because Smith is an upgrade.

But I don't give up premium draft picks for a QB that I believe has no shot to ever take this team to a SB.

It's wasted ****ing resources.

As is this Daniel signing. That move is, comparing in a side by side manner, equally ridiculous if not worse.
The trade for the #1 QB spot: Garbages.
The filling of the #2 spot with Daniel: Garbages.
The only legit move for the entire QB roster was Bray, and we'll just have to hope in one hand and shit in the other on that.

Sure!! Obviously you don't have football eyes and recognize a high ceiling in a QB when it's right there in front of you. A 7yr starting vet QB compared to a 1yr limited snaps back up QB who goes 47% 'first time out' and only gets better with more time. Jim owes Alex NOTHING ! Jim owes ownership and the fans the best team on the field to win a SB. Remember, its a business of winning games pure and simple. A gamble? Hell yes ! But a gamble that HAD to happen ! Why ? The O began to sputter under Smith a few games prior to his injury and Harbs saw the Alex of old begin to creep back in. So Harbs in order to kill 2 birds with one stone allowed both to play to see what Kaep can do and see if Alex can handle the pressure and shake off the sputtering offense by playing them both. Well, we all know what happened.

Harbs gut told him Smith won't take the niners to a SB but Kaep could and DID !! Harbs saw no gamble in the decision because Smith limited the team getting to the SB in his mind, but Kaep was the wild card that was worth playing if it meant getting to the SB and it payed off. Hats off to Harbs and I applaud him.

You can throw all the red zone stats around you want but Harbs knows that defenses don't have to game plan near as much for Smith as they would for Kaep because Kaep like RGIII is a nightmare to game plan. WHY ?? Well, you said it best !! "You like where everything is at right now".
And why is that ? Because Kaep is a helluva a lot better than Smith, that's why you like where everything is at right now. Question is would you pull ' a Marty' right now if you were HC ? Hell no you wouldn't because you have already stated, "you like where everything is at right now" which is code for I like Kaep much better as starting QB than Smith.

But I have no doubt that you would have pulled ' a Marty' and would have given Smith back his job if you were HC last season never knowing what Kaep could have done for you thus you would have been one and done in the playoffs no doubt !!

__________________"All real Americans love the sting of battle and may God have mercy on my enemies because I wont".

'Progressivism' is nothing more than a dressed up co-opted term for 'Marxism'.

Sure!! Obviously you don't have football eyes and recognize a high ceiling in a QB when it's right there in front of you. A 7yr starting vet QB compared to a 1yr limited snaps back up QB who goes 47% 'first time out' and only gets better with more time. Jim owes Alex NOTHING ! Jim owes ownership and the fans the best team on the field to win a SB. Remember, its a business of winning games pure and simple. A gamble? Hell yes ! But a gamble that HAD to happen ! Why ? The O began to sputter under Smith a few games prior to his injury and Harbs saw the Alex of old begin to creep back in. So Harbs in order to kill 2 birds with one stone allowed both to play to see what Kaep can do and see if Alex can handle the pressure and shake off the sputtering offense by playing them both. Well, we all know what happened.

Harbs gut told him Smith won't take the niners to a SB but Kaep could and DID !! Harbs saw no gamble in the decision because Smith limited the team getting to the SB in his mind, but Kaep was the wild card that was worth playing if it meant getting to the SB and it payed off. Hats off to Harbs and I applaud him.

You can throw all the red zone stats around you want but Harbs knows that defenses don't have to game plan near as much for Smith as they would for Kaep because Kaep like RGIII is a nightmare to game plan. WHY ?? Well, you said it best !! "You like where everything is at right now".
And why is that ? Because Kaep is a helluva a lot better than Smith, that's why you like where everything is at right now. Question is would you pull ' a Marty' right now if you were HC ? Hell no you wouldn't because you have already stated, "you like where everything is at right now" which is code for I like Kaep much better as starting QB than Smith.

But I have no doubt that you would have pulled ' a Marty' and would have given Smith back his job if you were HC last season never knowing what Kaep could have done for you thus you would have been one and done in the playoffs no doubt !!

Holy ****.

You are an idiot, even when arguing something that I agree with in general.

Although Kap did appear to provide a spark to certain player(s), (Crabtree), and maybe even a portion of a fan base, he really didn't do a whole lot for the team in terms of improving the output. Points per game, yards per game, passing yards per game, rushing yards per game, wins... all very similar. Just a different way of getting those things. Just for varification, here are the numbers:

Now I am not saying Smith is going to be the end-all-be-all QB this franchise is looking for, but it is not like the 49ers benched Tyler Palko (Smith) and upgraded to John Elway (Kap) last season, and their fortunes suddenly took a turn for the better. Things were pretty good to begin with.

It's the high ceiling in Kaep and how players are motivated around him. And Kaep only gets better because of his elite athleticism over Smith where Smith had reached his ceiling and Harbs knew it.

__________________"All real Americans love the sting of battle and may God have mercy on my enemies because I wont".

'Progressivism' is nothing more than a dressed up co-opted term for 'Marxism'.

You are an idiot, even when arguing something that I agree with in general.

Which means you have personal issues with me for whatever reason outside of football talk which is a mystery to me since you and I have never met. I really don't dislike you Milk actually I get a kick out of you but get some help Milk !!!

__________________"All real Americans love the sting of battle and may God have mercy on my enemies because I wont".

'Progressivism' is nothing more than a dressed up co-opted term for 'Marxism'.

Which means you have personal issues with me for whatever reason outside of football talk which is a mystery to me since you and I have never met. I really don't dislike you Milk actually I get a kick out of you but get some help Milk !!!

I have no personal issues and still think you sound like a dumb ****Posted via Mobile Device

Which means you have personal issues with me for whatever reason outside of football talk which is a mystery to me since you and I have never met. I really don't dislike you Milk actually I get a kick out of you but get some help Milk !!!